Blog Party #43--Spice It Up: Baked Samosas with Mint Chutney & Rose-Pomegranate Martinis

It's Blog Party time again (my 10th since I have been blogging!), and time to get a bit "spicy" for this month's theme, "Spice It Up". Hosted by my friend Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness, Blog Party is my favorite virtual party, where all manner of creative appetizers and drinks show up in celebration of whatever wonderful theme Stephanie has dreamed up for us.  

This month, India was my inspiration and I was madly trying to decide what to make when, like magic, the perfect appetizer recipe appeared. I took a really wonderful class this weekend on healthy, vegetarian Indian cooking (I'll share more on it later) and we made these delicious Baked Samosas and also sampled and learned the recipe for a delicious Mint Chutney to go with them. I trucked home my allotment of food, including the samosas we made, and whipped up a batch of the chutney as well as concocted a fabulous Rose-Pomegranate Martini to serve with it. Blog Party dilemma solved!

Baked Samosas

Chef Alyssa Moreau

Pastry Dough:

1 cup unbleached white flour*

3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 cup light oil (walnut oil preferred)

1/2 tsp vinegar (rice vinegar preferred)

1/2 cup water

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Combine wet ingredients and then stir into the dry mix until just moistened. (If it's too dry, add in some water 1 Tbsp at a time). Pat into a flat disk, cover, and refrigerate 1/2 hour.  *You can substitute whole wheat pastry flour for white flour.

Samosa Filling:

2 cups russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" cubes

1 Tbsp ghee, butter or oil

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp coriander powder

1/4 tsp turmeric

1 tsp mustard seeds

cayenne to taste

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 tsp salt

1-2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, minced

Boil potatoes in water (to cover) until soft (approx 15 minutes). Drain and lightly mash. Set aside. Melt the butter, add cumin seeds and cook a couple minutes, add the rest of the spices and cook a couple minutes more, making sure not to burn. Add to mashed potato mixture, along with remaining ingredients. 

To assemble samosas:

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or oil well. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Divide dough into 8 pieces; form into balls. Roll out each ball into a thin round and cut with a biscuit/pastry cutter.*  Place a spoonful of samosa filling over 1/2 of circle and fold over to match edges. Use a fork to press edges together. Brush with melted butter or ghee. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until nicely browned.  *Depending on the size of your pastry cutter, you may have extra dough and more samosas to make. Serve with chutney.

Mint Chutney

Chef Alyssa Moreau

8 sprigs mint, leaves pulled off

1/2 cup cilantro, stems and leaves

1 tsp garlic , minced

1 tsp ginger, minced

1/2 green chili, seeded and chopped

1/2 tsp cumin

1/8 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

3 Tbsp plain yogurt

In a blender or food processor, blend all ingredients together and adjust flavors to taste.  

Notes/Results: These were nicely flavored and spicy little samosas. Using part whole-wheat flour and baking instead of deep frying makes these little treats much healthier than your average samosa but just as tasty. The dough was easy to work with and the combination of the white flour and whole wheat pastry flour was tender when baked up. The mint chutney (shh...don't tell Stephanie there was cilantro in it and maybe she won't notice with all the spices!) is good but I would suggest at least doubling the recipe, as it just makes a small quantity. I would make both recipes again.

My beverage this month is a delicious Rose-Pomegranate Martini. Not particularly spicy but delicious with spicy foods. A few years ago I traveled frequently to Puerto Rico on business and ate often at a restaurant called Tantra, a sort of fusion Indian and Latin restaurant. Tantra had an extensive martini menu, including one with fruit juice and rose water that was delicious and really complimented the food. Their martinis always had rose petals floating on top, a decadent and festive touch, so this martini is inspired by Tantra.   

Rose-Pomegranate Martini

4 oz pomegranate juice

1 1/2 oz fruit-infused vodka

dash of rose water

ice

rose petals for garnish

Mix pomegranate juice, vodka, rosewater and ice in a cocktail shaker.  Shake and drain into a martini glass (or margarita glass, or whatever glass you prefer). Garnish with fresh, clean, pesticide-free, rose petals and enjoy. 

If you want to join the party, RSVP to Stephanie no later than Friday the 20th. You'll be able to check out who else came to Blog Party and how they "spiced it up" at the round up which should be up on her site after Sunday the 22nd. Cheers!

Mushroom Toasts--Best 10 Minute Dinner Ever

Have I mentioned my great love for mushrooms?  It has only truly developed over the past few years but now I want them all the time. This dinner is so quick and simple it is barely a recipe but Yowza!, is it good! (And really pretty darn healthy if you do it without the butter!)

Mushroom Toasts

(Makes 2 toasts)

3/4 cup mushrooms of your choice, cleaned and sliced (I used Crimini and Oyster)

2 Tbsp low sodium vegetable stock or broth

1 Tbsp white wine (optional)

1 Tbsp whole-wheat pastry flour

salt and pepper to taste

chopped parsley to garnish

whole wheat or multi-grain toast of your choice (I used a 6-grain ciabatta style roll from the farmer' market)

Put mushrooms, stock and wine if using, into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat about 3-4 minutes.  Sprinkle with whole wheat flour, carefully mix in and cook another 2 minutes until sauce is thickened, add salt and pepper to taste. Meanwhile toast bread. Serve mushrooms over toast, garnished with chopped parsley.  

Notes/Results: Quick, easy and oh so yummy! It tastes rich and decadent but is done without any oil, butter or extra fat. The six-grain roll was perfect, with lots of nooks and crannies to absorb the sauce. Mushrooms are high in riboflavin, niacin and selenium and served with a simple salad of baby spinach and tomatoes with a bit of olive oil and lemon, you have an excellent healthy dinner in about 10 minutes.

Check out the Cook The Books Blog for the Round-up of our second book: The Language of Baklava, by Diana Abu-Jaber and hosted this time by yours truly!  


We had a great turn out, everyone loved the book and there is lots of yummy food to share. I can't wait to see who our author, Ms. Abu-Jaber picks as the winner for this round! If you love foodie books and want to join us at CTB for our third book, we will be announcing it very soon. 

Chicken & Vegetable Stew from Clean Eating for Souper Sunday

This week's recipe for Souper Sundays is Chicken & Vegetable Stew and it comes from the latest issue of Clean Eating magazine, a magazine I have been cooking out of a lot lately. I picked up the latest issue in Portland and spent the plane ride home tagging recipes to make. A good chicken stew is the epitome of comfort food to me and I found the fact that this one used pineapple juice in the broth intriguing. 

Chicken & Vegetable Stew

Clean Living Magazine

(Serves 6)

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 Tbsp whole-wheat flour

1 tsp ground black pepper

1/2 tsp dried parsley

1/4 tsp thyme

1 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 

2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, diced

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

1/2 cup pineapple juice

1 cup carrots, chopped

1 (12-oz) can white beans, drained and rinsed

1 parsnip, cubed

2 bay leaves

Cut chicken into bite-sized cubes.In a bowl, combine flour, pepper, parsley and thyme; then dredge chicken cubes in mixture. Heat oil in a large pot on medium-high. Add garlic, onion, celery and chicken cubes an quickly saute ingredients for 4 to 5 minutes. Turn heat down to medium and pour in broth and pineapple juice. Toss in carrots, beans, parsnip and bay leaves and stir to combine. Cover and simmer on medium-high until carrots and parsnips are soft, about 20 minutes. Uncover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove bay leaves and serve. Store leftovers in refrigerator, covered, for 3 to 4 days or in the freezer for 2 to 3 months.  

Nutrients per 1 1/2 cup serving: Calories: 190, Total Fat: 5g, Sat Fat: 1g, Carbs: 18g, Fiber: 4g, Sugars: 6g, Protein: 19g, Sodium: 85mg, Cholesterol: 40mg

Notes/Results: Good and hearty with a lot of flavor. The pineapple juice combined with the carrots and parsnips make it a bit "sweeter" than your average stew but not in an unpleasant way. Although the recipe didn't call for it, I threw in about 2/3 cup of frozen peas at the end of cooking for a bit more color and because I like my peas. I did find I needed a couple of turns of the salt grinder (just a bit), to balance out the flavors. Served with a piece of multi-grain bread from the farmer's market, it was a good, filling and healthy dinner and like most stews, even better reheated the next day.

Let's see who stopped by the Souper Sunday kitchen this week:

Being out of red lentils pushed Amanda from Joie de Vivre to try using split peas in one of her favorite soup recipes and Split Pea Soup with Carrots and Coconut was born. It turned out to be a flavorful and delicious combination and the perfect soup to enjoy at lunch with her vegetarian friends. Because it cooks in the crock pot, it's an easy choice for entertaining.

Also putting that slow cooker to use is Ulrike from Küchenlatein who used it to cook her Thickened Oxtail Soup. (The German version of her post can be found here). Unexpectedly finding oxtail at her favorite supermarket, she succeeded in recreating the flavors of her childhood and giving her sons their first taste of oxtail soup. Thick, hearty and filling, it is interesting that oxtail soup is also popular here in Hawaii. It is a small world!

We have a couple of new faces to welcome at Souper Sunday; the first is Sylvie from Rappahannock Cook & Kitchen Gardener, hailing from rural Virginia. Sylvie provides cookery services and workshops (including one on soup!), utilizing local foods. One that may be be less familiar to many of us is the Jerusalem artichoke or sunchoke. Reading that sunchokes could be used like potatoes, Sylvie adapted her potato-leek soup recipe into this creamy Leek and Sunchoke Soup.  

Our other new face is Alisa from One Frugal Foodie, a dairy-free cook and blogger who believes that "eating well should not be expensive", a great philosophy to have especially these days! Coming up with different flavor combinations is one of the most fun parts of cooking and you never know when that next idea is going to strike--for Alisa it was while in pain after a medical procedure. When the result is a savory, mix of potatoes, garlic and miso, like in her Rich and Creamy Potato Miso Soup, you know you have a winner. 

Answering the call of all those people who say they don't have time to make homemade soup is Christine from Kit's Chow with her No Prep Vegetable Soup with Migas. In her post, Christine goes through the steps for quickly putting together a simple, hearty, flavorful soup out of pantry items or things easily picked up at the store. This soup is based on the Basque soup called "Garbure", a thick soup or stew with toasted or fried bread.  

Kim at Ordinary Recipes Made Gourmet must have been reading my mind this week as I have totally been craving clam chowder. OK, so she really made it for her husband who hates all things shellfish except his favorite chowder, but I can live vicariously through her recipe can't I?!  Kim's husband likes his soup chunky and her Creamy Clam Chowder, full of clams, potato and celery was the perfect Valentine's Day gift for him.  

Giving me yet another round of soup cravings is Suzie from Munch + Nibble, who made one of my favorite soups ever, The Barefoot Contessa's Pappa Al Pomidoro soup. If you haven't tried Ina Garten's take on this classic Italian soup, Suzie's version and picture should help convince you! Full of tomatoey goodness and topped with a crunchy medley of basil, bread and bacon or pancetta, this recipe is a keeper and I am glad it got cool enough in Sydney for Suzie to be able to enjoy it.

Another classic soup to comfort and cure whatever may ail you is this one from Natashya at Living In the Kitchen With Puppies; Chicken Noodle Soup. This soup is chock full of nutritious vegetables, pasta and chunks of roasted chicken. Natashya says that it is a great way to use up leftover chicken but I think it is worth roasting one, just to make this delicious bowl of goodness. She served her soup with some semolina "knots" she made from her handy Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day stash. Yum!

Sticking with her simple cooking plan, Stephanie from Dispensing Happiness has a zesty Chorizo & Chickpea Soup this week. It's all the things you look for in a great soup; simple good, substantial and filling. Pour it in shot glasses and it sounds like it would be perfect perfect for her Blog Party theme this month, "Spice It Up"!

Another great variety of soups this week!  I love the combo of classic soups and new flavors we seem to get each week. A big Mahalo (thank you), to everyone who sent in a soup.  If you want to join us and share a soup or soup-like creation, click the Souper Sundays logo on the side bar for all the details.

Have a great week!

Happy Valentine's Day--Mom's "Fantasy Fudge"

I have been eating and posting some pretty healthy recipes for the past several weeks but for Valentine's Day, I am taking a break to bring you some indulgent, in no way good for you, chocolate love made by Mom. Not making it home for Christmas this year, I missed what is my favorite holiday tradition food; Mom's Fantasy Fudge. I am sure the people at Kraft would object to me calling it my Mom's, when the recipe has been appearing on the back of their marshmallow creme jar for decades, but my Mom makes it better. By replacing half the semi-sweet chocolate with milk chocolate, it is sweet and creamy and something I have trouble resisting. Mom made a batch while I was visiting just for me. (Although we gave most of it away--after all a girl has to have some restraint!) Her changes/notes are in red below.

Fantasy Fudge (Mom's Version)

Adapted from Kraft Foods 

(Makes 3 lbs)

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup margarine
1 can (5 oz) evaporated milk
1 pkg. (12 oz) semisweet chocolate pieces (6 oz semisweet and 6 oz milk chocolate pieces)
1 jar (7 oz) marshmallow creme
1 cup chopped nuts (omit)
1 tsp. vanilla

Combine sugar, margarine and milk in heavy 2 to 3-quart saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. (Mom melts her margarine first, then adds the sugar, salt and milk before bringing it to a boil)


Continue boiling 5 minutes over medium heat stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. Remove from heat.

Stir in chocolate pieces until melted. Add marshmallow creme, nuts and vanilla. Beat until well blended. (I like my fudge creamy so no nuts in mine!)

Pour into a greased 13-by-9-inch pan.

Cool at room temperature. Cut into squares.

Notes/Results: What can I say?  It is just delicious! Although some might argue that the milk chocolate is too sweet, to me that is the whole point of fudge. When the milk chocolate is combined with the semi-sweet, it makes a creamy delicious treat to indulge in once a year whether at Christmas or for Valentine's Day, or both--who am I to judge?! 

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! We will be back to our regularly scheduled healthier fare tomorrow for Souper Sunday!

Quick & Easy Cucumber Raita for Tyler Florence Fridays

The beauty of Tyler Florence Fridays (besides Tyler of course!), lies in it’s flexibility; being able to make whatever recipe you want whenever you want. Busy? Traveling? Trying to eat well? Craving chocolate? Whatever your mood or weekly situation, there is a Tyler recipe for you, even if it’s just a simple sauce or condiment recipe that does not require much effort. It was a short week in Portland and we didn’t have time to do a whole lot of cooking, but I did manage to make my Mom my standard favorite, easy Turkey-Falafel Patties and needed a sauce to dress them up a bit. Cue the Cucumber Raita from Tyler's Ultimate television show. Found on the Food Network site here, it’s quick, easy and healthy. I usually throw together my own yogurt sauce for the patties, either a raita or tzatziki style, but why not give Tyler a try?!


Cucumber Raita
Tyler's Ultimate, Tyler Florence
(Makes 2 cups)

2 cups of plain unsweetened natural yogurt
juice of 1 lemon
1 English cucumber, roughly chopped
1/2 red chile, deseeded and roughly chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 turns freshly ground black pepper

Combine ingredients in a food processor and pulse 3 times to just chop up the cucumber. The raita should be nice and creamy from the yogurt but still have texture from the cucumber.


Notes/Results: Good. Tyler’s raita is basic, tasty and has a slight kick from the red chile. It was perfect with the falafel patties on a whole grain pita and it also makes a great, low-fat veggie dip. Although Tyler’s recipe did not call for it, I always salt my cucumber and let it sit for 30 minutes or so (then rinse and pat dry) and I drain my yogurt for a few hours in the fridge to remove excess liquid and keep the sauce from separating. It tastes great freshly made but as many things, it benefits from a few hours in the fridge so the flavors have time to meld. Quick and easy.


You can check out what the other TFF participants made this week and see how they liked it here at the TFF site.

Happy Aloha Friday! Have a great weekend!

Healthier Real Meatballs and Spaghetti--Barefoot Bloggers

February's first Barefoot Bloggers recipe was selected by the wonderful Rebecca from Ezra Pound Cake. Rebecca selected a great dinner recipe, Ina's Real Meatballs and Spaghetti. Although, this recipe is not full of cream and butter as some Ina recipes are, there were still ways for me to lighten it up and make it a little healthier to fit in with my goals. (Primarily by using whole grain bread and pasta, replacing the meat with a leaner choice, reducing the oil, adding my favorite flax seed and browning the meatballs in the oven). Lest you think I had tasteless meatballs and spaghetti, I also used a couple of tricks to enhance the flavor. You can find Ina's recipe below at the Food Network site (here) or on page 103 of Barefoot Contessa Family Style. My healthy changes are in red below and since I halved this recipe, the amounts in my changes are for a half portion of the recipe.

Real Meatballs and Spaghetti

Barefoot Contessa Family Style, Ina Garten

(Makes 6 Servings) (Makes 3+ Large Servings)

Ingredients:

For the meatballs:
1/2 pound ground veal  (used 1 lb ground bison / buffalo for the veal, pork and beef)
1/2 pound ground pork  (omitted, see above)
1 pound ground beef  (omitted, see above)
1 cup fresh white bread crumbs (4 slices, crusts removed) (used whole grain bread crumbs)
1/4 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs  (used dry whole wheat bread crumbs mixed with no salt Italian seasoning)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 extra-large egg, beaten  (used 1 egg white)
Vegetable oil  (omitted oil and baked meatballs)
Olive oil  (omitted oil and baked meatballs)

(added 1/2 onion grated)

(added 1 Tbsp ground flax seed)

For the sauce:  
1 tablespoon good olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion (1 onion)
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 cup good red wine, such as Chianti
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes, or plum tomatoes in puree, chopped 
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt  
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

(added 1 soft beef bouillon cube)  

(added 1 tsp crushed red pepper)

For serving:
1 1/2 pounds spaghetti, cooked according to package directions (used whole wheat pasta)
Freshly grated Parmesan

Directions:
Place the ground meat, both bread crumbs, parsley, Parmesan, salt, pepper, nutmeg, egg, grated onion, flax seed, and 3/4 cup warm water in a bowl. Combine very lightly with a fork. Using your hands, lightly form the mixture into 2-inch meatballs. You will have 14 to 16 meatballs. (Note: I had 12 large meatballs from this mixture)

Pour equal amounts of vegetable oil and olive oil into a large (12-inch) skillet to a depth of 1/4-inch. Heat the oil. Very carefully, in batches, place the meatballs in the oil and brown them well on all sides over medium-low heat, turning carefully with a spatula or a fork. This should take about 10 minutes for each batch. Don't crowd the meatballs. Remove the meatballs to a plate covered with paper towels. Discard the oil but don't clean the pan. (I placed the meatballs on a foil covered pan and baked them for about 25 minutes in a 425 degree oven until browned)

For the sauce, heat the olive oil in the same pan. (Because I baked my meatballs instead of browning them in oil, to add some extra flavor to the sauce I crumbled a soft texture beef bouillon cube into the pan with the olive oil to cook the onions). Add the onion and saute over medium heat until translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Add the wine and cook on high heat, scraping up all the brown bits in the pan, until almost all the liquid evaporates, about 3 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper.


Return the meatballs to the sauce, cover, and simmer on the lowest heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the meatballs are cooked through. Serve hot on cooked spaghetti and pass the grated Parmesan.

Notes/Results: Yum! I have never really craved spaghetti and meatballs but this recipe could become crave-worthy, especially now that it's healthier. Although I am sure Ina's recipe is delicious, the changes I made did not have a negative impact, there was a ton of flavor, great texture, and most importantly I felt better eating it. First off, I used ground bison for the meatballs because of it's rich taste, less fat and extra iron and protein. The whole-grain bread and dry wheat crumbs (with no-salt added Italian flavoring) were not too heavy and the flax seed is not at all noticeable. Since I planned on baking the meatballs rather than frying them, I wanted to boost the flavor and moisture level so I ground up an onion and added it to the mixture. Baking the meatballs made a lot of the oil unnecessary but I was concerned that the sauce would lose some of the flavor from the browned meat bits so I added a beef bouillon cube to the olive oil used to cook the onion (since the cube had salt, I didn't need to add extra to the sauce), and a teaspoon of crushed red peppers for a little flavor kick. Served on some whole-wheat spaghetti with a little grated Parmesan and a side of salad, this was a healthy, delicious dinner and I actually wished I had made the whole batch! I will make this again.

Great pick Rebecca--I loved this one! You can see what the other Barefoot Bloggers thought of their Real Meatballs and Spaghetti and find out how to join Barefoot Bloggers at the BB site here.

Healthy Middle Eastern Fare for Cook The Books: The Language of Baklava

Our second selection for Cook The Books, (the foodie book club, founded by Rachel at The Crispy Cook, Johanna from Food Junkie, Not Junk Food and me), is The Language of Baklava, a foodie memoir by Diana Abu-Jaber. As this month’s host, I got to choose our selection and as much as I love “foodie fiction”, there is something special about foodie memoirs that make them one of my favorite book genres. I especially enjoy memoirs where the author reflects on the food and practices of their culture. I think it is due to my own lack of a strong cultural identity. I am basically “American mutt”, with some German, Swedish, Danish (and who knows what else mixed in), so although I have memories or ties to food from childhood, it is not attached to any one culture (or cultures). The Language of Baklava is about the author’s experiences growing up and struggling to find her own identity between the very different customs and mores of her vibrant, flamboyant Jordanian father and her steady, restrained American mother. As exotic as many of the characters, locations, experiences and food in the book were, it also has the classic ingredients of any coming of age story that we can all relate to; adolescent anxiety and rebellion, crazy family members providing embarrassing moments and a struggle to find one's place in the world.

I find Abu-Jaber to be a wonderful and descriptive story teller, whether writing fiction for some of her other books (Crescent, Arabian Jazz) or as in this book, relating vividly the personal stories that made up her life. There are recipes sprinkled through the book that only enhance the colorful narrative and helped to immerse me in the tale. Even the title of the book, The Language of Baklava, reinforces the idea that food can be it’s own language or way of communicating.

I wanted to cook so many of the recipes in the book and will probably go back and do so later on, but for my Cook The Books entry, I settled on three recipes from the book: “Eat It Now” Shish Kabob, Fattoush: Bread Salad, and a Tahini Sauce, featured in a fish recipe toward the end of the book. With a few changes to lighten things up and accompanied by a Middle Eastern Couscous with Apricot, recipe from Tyler Florence, (multi-tasking here for two events!), it made a lovely and delicious Healthy Mediterranean Platter.

"Eat It Now" Shish Kabob

The Langauage of Baklava, Diana Abu-Jaber

(Serves 6)

4 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup red wine
2 tablespoons red vinegar
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
2 pounds boneless leg of lamb, cut into small cubes
1 large onion, cut into chunks
1 large tomato, cut into chunks
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Whisk together the oil, wine, vinegar, garlic and spices in a large bowl. Add the meat and stir to coat it thoroughly. Cover and refrigerate overnight; turn occasionally.

Thread the cubes of lamb on skewers, occasionally adding a piece of onion or tomato. Grill over hot coals, turning once. Cook to medium rare and eat while still sizzling.

Fattoush: Bread Salad

The Language of Baklava, Diana Abu-Jaber

1/2 cucumber, peeled and diced

1 1/2 loaves of pita bread, cut into pieces

1/4 cup olive oil

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 garlic clove, crushed

salt and freshly ground pepper

1/2 red bell pepper, diced

1 tomato, chopped

1/4 cup sliced scallions

2 Tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

3 Tbsp chopped mint

inner leaves of head of romaine, chopped into chunks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Sprinkle the cucumber with salt, drain for 30 minutes, and pat dry. On a cookie sheet, bake the pita pieces, shaking occasionally, 18 to 20 minutes, until crisp. In a large bowl, whisk the oil, lemon juice, and garlic with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the bell pepper, tomato, scallions, parsley, mint, cucumber, and pita. Toss the romaine leaves to combine, and serve.

Note/Results: I didn't have to do too much to lighten these recipes up, mainly I cut the olive oil down in both the marinade and the salad. I also used a lean, lamb loin chop for the shish kabob and used whole-wheat pita in the salad. The results? A tender, juicy, flavorful kabob, with a tahini sauce to drizzle on it; delicious on the plate and the leftovers were wonderful the next day, as a sandwich filling in a whole-wheat pita. The salad was bright, tangy and refreshing and the whole-wheat pita crisps added a nice crunch. This recipe might just make it on the regular salad rotation. The tahini sauce (recipe in book), was a nice accompaniment to the lamb and the whole plate went together easily. 

 

A truly wonderful book, paired with some delicious food!  If you are reading along with us or want to, you still have several days to finish the book and get your dishes posted. The deadline is February 15th and we are getting the help choosing the winning entry from the author herself. For more Cook The Books information check out our website here.